Paris-born Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, whose family produces Grand Marnier, fell in love with the Colchagua Valley on her first visit here. She planted her vineyard on 366 hectares of sun-baked soil and granite-covered sierra to produce Clos Apalta, a premium cuvée. An investment which has paid off: in 2008, Wine Spectator singled out the blend as the most exciting wine in the world.

Now, there are are four secluded hillside guest cabins, with laurel roofs and king-sized beds dressed in Cambodian silk; each has a private wooden deck with wonderful views of the vineyard's Merlot and Carmenere vines and the snow-capped Andrean cordillera beyond. There are horseback tours, in-room massages and a cactus-edged infinity pool. Staff are well-versed in Chilean wines and serve exquisitely prepared dinners of local salmon on peach Limoges china ina century-old pergola surrounded by vines.

A decade ago, people scoffed when Chilean wine-growers began to experiment with grapes grown in saline plots bordering the Pacific. Today, the coastal region's mineral-rich Syrahs and fresh, fruity Chardonnays attract awards and accolades in equal measure. Just 40km from the port city of Valparaiso, the certified-organic Matetic Vineyards was among the pioneers. The vineyard's century-old guesthouse, with its manicured gardens and towering palms, is in the 9,000-hectare Valle de Rosario, owned by the Matetic family. The seven guest bedrooms are decorated with patrician oak furniture, velvety curtains and gilt-framed oil paintings. Visitors can tour the oval-roofed winery designed by Norway's Laurence Odfjell, saddle up for forays on a Chilean horse (a hardy breed, the oldest in the Americas), explore poet Pablo Neruda's house in nearby Isla Negra or doze on a four-poster sunbed by the pool. For dinner, chef Matias Bustos matches giant scallops and ginger-marinated duck with the vineyard's star EQ Syrah 2004, served in a dining room rich with chandeliers, silverware and silk. La Casona at Matetic Vineyards, Fundo Rosario, Lagunillas, Casablanca, Chile. Doubles from US$500, half board, including wine tasting (00 56 22 315620; www.matetic.com)

Norwegian-born financier and hotelier Alexander Vik has been hailed for his attention to detail at his celebrated hotels in Uruguay. He and his wife Carrie have applied the same Nordic precision when creating Vina Vik, one of Chile's most ambitious wineries, from 4,400 hectares of scrub-covered hillside in the Cachapoal Valley. Star winemaker Patrick Valette, who learnt the trade at his family's Chateau Pavie in France, established the vineyard from scratch, planting 303 hectares of high-density, drip-fed Cabernet and Carmenere vines that yielded the first ultra-premium blend in March.

A 22-cabin hotel will open at Vina Vik at the end of 2013. Until then, overnight stays are informal glamping affairs: guests sleep in a four-room cabin (pictured) built for Vik's own pleasure, designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic, where the views take in a forest-fringed lake and serried sierras. Guests can hike, bike or canter along valley trails, returning at dusk to a candlelit barbecue with a Vik wine served among the vines that bore it.

Wines from the Colchagua Valley, Chile's most-visited wineland, have won more prizes than those from any other region. Vina Casa Silva, the valley's oldest vineyard, extends across the mountain-fringed Angostura plain near the town of San Fernando, where plots of the Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris varieties date from 1912.

The Silva family's rambling ancestral home is now a delightful guesthouse. The seven big bedrooms, washed in pastel shades and decorated with French antiquities, open onto a veranda tiled in the Andalucian style. Salmon ceviche and conger-eel are served at the restaurant in a nearby clubhouse, where you can mingle with a local horsey crowd. Alternatively, you can snack on tapas, pizzas, sandwiches and salads at the hotel's wine bar and terrace. Guests can sign up for riding classes on a poplar-lined polo field or admire feats of bravura horsemanship, as huasos showcase their saddle skills at monthly rodeo shows.